This is a growing story. Times reporters are examining thousands of pages of documents. Check back for updates.
WASHINGTON – Former President Donald J. Democrats released Trump’s 6-year term on Friday. Tax recordsMr. The release of the closely guarded documents comes after years of legal battles and speculation about Trump’s wealth and his financial troubles.
The liberation It came 10 days after the House Ways and Means Committee’s Democratic release Mr. Two reports on Trump’s taxes As part of an investigation into the Internal Revenue Service’s practice of conducting mandatory audits while presidents are in office. Reports to the IRS Mr. Trump failed to censor During his first two years as president, he didn’t begin the examination process until 2019, when House Democrats launched oversight proceedings in an attempt to access his tax records.
“Our findings are simple — the IRS did not begin a mandatory audit of the former president until I made my initial request,” Representative Richard E. Neal of Massachusetts, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said in a statement. Friday.
While much of the information in the tax returns has already come to light, including two reports released last week, Mr. It is expected to provide a rare window into the complexity of Trump’s finances and whether he can do it. They have benefited from the tax policies he signed into law as president. These include the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which provided a series of tax breaks and cuts. businesses And the wealthy.
Data released last week showed that in the first three years of his presidency, Mr Trump paid $1.1 million in federal income taxes But in 2020 he did not pay tax as his income decreased and losses increased. In his first year as President, Mr. Trump paid $750 in federal income tax and reported a loss of $12.9 million.
For the House Ways and Means Committee Mr. The nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, which reviewed Trump’s tax returns, found So many red flags In a petition filed by the former president, further investigation has been ordered. Those include dealings with his children and a waiver related to settling fraud claims against the now-defunct Trump University.
In a statement on Friday, Mr. Trump slammed Democrats and said the decision to release the returns was “weaponized.”
“The ‘Trump’ tax returns show once again how proud I am of victory and how we have been able to use depreciation and various tax deductions as an incentive to create thousands of jobs and wonderful structures and companies,” he wrote.
A tax return is one of the most privately held documents in the United States. Although Congress has the power to receive and release them, it rarely takes such action.
Mr. After Trump broke with tradition and refused to disclose his income as a presidential candidate or while in office, Democratic lawmakers sought him out because of concerns about potential conflicts. Ultimately, audit chiefs and deputy chiefs used their oversight powers to open them through investigations into IRS policy.
In 2020, after receiving the data For more than two decades Mr. Trump’s tax return, The New York Times traces the ups and downs of his financial history: a life marred by dubious tax avoidance, huge losses and an inherited fortune. Newly released tax returns show how that pattern extended during his years in Washington.
Reports by the Ways and Means Committee, Mr. It also highlights how much the IRS outmaneuvered the army of lawyers, accountants and tax experts Trump hired to defend him in audits of his returns during, and before and after, Trump’s presidency.
“With more than 400 flow-through returns reported on Form 1040, it is not possible to have the resources available to examine all potential issues,” IRS agents told Mr. Reported on Trump’s tax returns. internal reference The group announced last week.
Republicans warned that releasing an individual’s tax return would set a dangerous precedent and lead to public pressure for GOP lawmakers to respond by releasing other tax returns once they take control of the House next week.
In a closed-door hearing last week, Mr. Ahead of a party-line vote on Trump’s release of the report, Republicans specifically raised the prospect of releasing tax information related to President Biden’s family — mostly including his son Hunter Biden.
“Going forward, all future chairs of both the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee will have virtually unlimited power to target private citizens, political opponents, business and labor leaders, or the Supreme Court’s tax returns. They are the judges themselves,” said Rep. Kevin of Texas. Brady, the top Republican on the Ways and Means Committee, said in a statement Friday.
“This is a regrettable stain on the Ways and Means Committee and Congress, and will only further divide and demoralize American politics,” Mr. Brady added. In the long run, Democrats will regret it.
Alan Rapport reported from Washington and Jim Tankersley from St. Croix, VI
